Peanut Butter Overload Cookies from Table for Two

Peanut Butter Overload Cookies - made dough January 29, 2024 from Table for Two 

1 3/4 cups (219 grams) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (129 grams) creamy peanut butter (not natural peanut butter)

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (110 grams) dark brown sugar

1 large egg

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 2/3 cups Reese's peanut butter cups, chopped

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter, granulated and brown sugar until no butter lumps remain. Add peanut butter and mix to combine. 
3. Add in eggs, milk, and vanilla extract, mixing to combine.
4. Add dry ingredients in two additions and mix until just combined. Fold in peanut butter cups.
5. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space dough balls. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw or shiny. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheet for several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

This is a good, solid peanut butter cookie recipe. It's amped up by the peanut butter cups but if you want to take it a step further, you can also add peanut butter chips to the dough. Be sure to reserve a handful of the peanut butter cups to chop up and press (gently) over the cookies as soon as you take them out of the oven.

The dough was easy to handle and they didn't spread much, always a hallmark of a good cookie dough. The texture isn't super soft but has a slight crispness to it but is still chewy. It's hard to explain but most peanut butter cookies are like that, even those made without shortening.

Some peanut butter cookies are a trifle fragile because of that airy crispness. These were fairly sturdy so I thought sending them in military care packages would be okay, especially since I vacuum sealed them and put the sealed bags inside ziploc freezer bags, not just for additional protection and cushion but also to keep the peanut butter flavor from permeating to the other baked goods in the box.